Two Mavericks Are Halfway Through 'Toughest Climb' Man Has Ever Taken On

Two daredevils are approximately halfway through what has been labelled the hardest rock climb in the world: a free climb of a half-mile section of exposed granite in California’s Yosemite National Park.

Kevin Jorgeson, 30, and Tommy Caldwell, 36, are scaling their way using only their hands and feet. The journey is being captured by Tom Evans, a climber and photographer.

El Capitan, the largest monolith of granite in the world, rises more than 3,000 feet above the Yosemite Valley floor. Don’t look down boys, whatever you do.

Free climbing involves using ropes to protect from falls, but not to aid in the ascent. Above, Caldwell makes his way up El Capitan using a headlamp on Sunday night

The men eat, stretch and sleep in hanging tents that are suspended to El Capitan’s Dawn Wall. They are managing to keep in contact with friends and family via social media.

Josh Lowell, a member of the organisation that has been chronicling the guys climbs for the past six years said that ‘Monday they are resting and trying to grow skin back on their fingertips so they can continue to do battle with the hardest climbing sections, which involve grabbing tiny, razor-sharp edges of rock.’

Growing skin back on their fingertips, just your average day at the office then.

They won’t be the first to have climbed Dawn Wall, but if successful they will be the first to ‘free climb’ the section using ropes only as a safeguard against falls. Previous conquerors have used ropes and metal pitons to help haul themselves upwards.